Rotator for shipsj logs



(No Model.) v

J. & G. BLISS. ROTATOR FOB SHIPS LOGS.

Patented Apr.

' Keven/0219.-

JOHN BLISS AND GEORGE H. BLISS, OF BROOKLYN, NElV YORK.

ROTATOR FORSHIPS LOGS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 296,385, dated April 8, 188%.

Application filed February 18, 1884.

lb aZZ whom it may concern..-

Be itknown tliatwe,JoHNBLIss and Gnonen H. BLIss, both. of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State. of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Rotators for Ships Logs, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates particularly to rotators for what are commonly known as taffrail-logs, which consist, essentially, of a rotator which is to be drawn through the water, and which transmits its rotation, through a braided. line or other suitable connection, to a register or recording apparatus carried upon the vessel. In order that logs of this class may be reliable, it is of course of primary importance that the number of turns of the rotator produced by the passage of the vessel a given distance shall be as nearly invariable as possible; and the object of our present invention is to provide for making the rotators uniformin all respects, and thus to increase the reliability of taffrail-logs.

The invention consists in arotator having an approximately cylindric body with a tapering forward end, and having spiral wings or blades which taper from their rear ends forward and form helicoidal surfaces radial throughout their length to the longitudinal center or axis of the body. 7

The invention also consists in a rotator having an approximately cylindric body with a tapering forward end, and having spiral wings or blades which have a gradual taper from the place of largest diameter to the forwardly-tapering end of the body, the tapering end of the body being an approximate continuation of the itaper of the blades, and which form helicoida-l surfaces radial throughout their length to the longitudinal center or axis of the body.

The invention also consists in novel features, hereinafter described, in the construction of the rotator body and wings or blades, and in the manner of combining them together, whereby the spiral orhelicoidal wings or blades are held in proper position on the rotatorbody during the operation of soldering them thereto, and are so braced and strengthened that they are less liable than heretofore to become detached from the body by use.

(No model.)

I11 the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a partly-sectional side View of a rotator embodying our invention. Figs. 2, 3, and 4 are transverse sections thereof, taken on the planes of the dotted lines :0 m, y y, a c, Fig. l; and Fig.

5 is a blank of one of the wings or blades.

Similar letters of reference designate correspouding parts in all the figures.

* vA designates theIrotator-body, which is truly or approximately cylindric, and has a forwardly-tapering end portion, A, through which the line B is passed. The line B may be held within the tubular body in any suitable manner. "We prefer to fold or double the line upon itself and to serve the double portion around with cord, and a pin or screw is then passed through a hole, a, transversely across the body A at its rear end and through the loop thus formed in the line.

The rotator here shown has four spiral wings or blades, 0, which are secured by solder or otherwise to the body A, and which have a gradual taper from the place of greatest diameter to the forwardly-tapering end of the body, the taper of the portion A of the body forming an approximate continuation of the taper of the wings or blades. These wings or blades form true helicoidal surfaces, which. are radial throughout to the longitudinal center or axis of the body. At its inner edge and between its ends the blade C has one, two, or more teats or projections, b, which enter a hole or holes, 1), formed in the body A, along the spiral line on which the blade is to be attached, and, as here shown, the blade has at its rear endatqngue, c, which entersanotch or groove, 0', at the rear end of the body A, and at its forward end a smaller tongue, d, which enters a groove or slot, (2, in the body A.

In forming the wings or blades 0, we first ciit or punch from sheet metal, preferably brass, blanks of the form shown in Fig. 5, and then, by means of a suitable die or former, we press or stamp them into the desired heliooidal form. In this way the wings or blades will have a uniform twist imparted to them.

In attaching the wings or blades to thebody A, the wing or blade is laid thereon, the tongues c (l entering the slots or notches o d and the teats b entering the holes I), and the blade is then soldered to the body at each side and along its whole length. After the operation v of soldering is completed a gage is passed along the body from end to end, and if the blades are not truly radial to the longitudinal center or axis of the rotator they are tapped slightly with a mallet to bring them to such position. The one or more teats or-projections 1), entering the holes I), hold the blade in alignment while being soldered, and so of the body. \Ve are aware that it is not new to make the wing or blade of alog-rotator with a gradual forward taper from the place of greatest diameter, as such a rotator is shown and described in our Letters Patent No. 208,061, dated September 17, 1878; but we are not aware that prior to our invention a rotator had ever been made in which the forwardly-tapering blades constituted true helieoidal surfaces radial throughout their length to the longitudinal center or axis of the body.

What we claim as ourinvention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A rotator for ships logs, having an approximately cylindric body with a tapering forward end, and having spiral wings or blades which taper from their rear ends forward and form helicoidal surfaces radial throughout their length to the longitudinal center or axis of the body, substantially as herein described.

2. A rotator for ships logs, having an approximately cylindric body with a forwardlytapering end, and having spiral wings or blades which have a gradual taper from the place of largest diameter to the forwardlytapering end, the taper of said end forming an approximate continuation ofthe taper of said wings or blades, and which form helicoidal surfaces radial throughout their length to the longitudinal center or axis of the body,

- substantially as herein described.

3. The combination, with the rotator-body A, of the wings or blades 0, provided between their ends with teats or projections b, which enter holes I) in the body, and maintain the said wings or blades in spiral alignment on the body, substantially as herein described.

4. The combination, with the rotator-body A, of the wings or blades'O, provided with tongues 0 (Z, and projections 12, entering slots and holes 0 d b in said body, and serving to preserve the spiral alignment of the said wings or blades, substantially as herein described.

JOHN BLISS. GEORGE H. BLISS.

, WVitnesses:

S. O. BURcEss, O. HALL. 

